Young in Dark Autumn
by Phoenixfire123
Summary: Darkness is gathering. Four young dwarves refuse to accept the fact that they may be too young to help with the problem. Adventures start at home, but the path is not as easy as they may think.


**A/N:** I should really be working on my main story, but I couldn't get this plot bunny out of my head. I just love young dwarves (though not young-young in this story). A few short notes: first, this is a few years before _The Hobbit_. Second, slightly AU because I believe the ages/age ratios aren't exactly accurate. The ages groups currently: Fili- young adult (about 19-20 human yrs), Kili and Ori- teenagers (16-17), Gimli- tween (13-14). Finally, this is put under drama but the first chapter is mainly fluffy friendship stuff.

**Chapter One**

Ori sat quietly in the corner of the room. As it usually was when he got time alone, one of his journals sat on his lap and several books surrounded him. There was no public supply of books in a way of a library, though the room he was currently in counted as much of one as any. Dwarves mostly came here to look at old records, maps or histories and a collection of materials met their needs. Currently, the small room was almost deserted save him.

He pulled over one of the heavier volumes closer and carefully examined the text. His quill hovered over his chin, and he resisted the urge to tap repeatedly. There was enough trouble with ink in his beard and Dori's constant ranting on the thought.

Turning the page of his journal, he was about to start to write when he heard someone walk over.

"Hey Ori!"

Ori looked up at the other young dwarf and gave a small smile.

"Hey Kili."

The dark-haired dwarf collapsed on a large cushion next to him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing."

"That's obvious, what about?"

Ori sighed. It was typical behavior of his friend to act like this. Some wondered how the two of them got along. Dori and a few of the other older dwarves said the youngest Durin was a bad influence, which was probably true. Yet Ori and his brothers relented to having the dwarf as a friend. Kili never failed to drag him out of his shell. Not that he wanted to at the moment.

Ori shook his head and closed the book. "Never mind. What do you want?"

Kili stretched on his back as he looked up at the ceiling. "Do you want to come out with me? You must be bored, and so am I. There has to be something to do."

"You have something in mind, no doubt. I don't know if I want to know it." He started to pack up his journal and a few of his own personal books. Brown eyes glanced at him critically before he heard his excitable friend speak up again.

"Not really. I have something in mind but not right now. I'm bored." Kili made to snatch one of the books Ori was about to grab and was slapped aside.

"No. The last time you got your hands on one of my books I could hardly clean the pages." Kili pouted, but Ori kept his gaze away. Those eyes were infamous for getting what he wanted ninety-nine percent of the time.

When he finished the pack up, he slung the bag over his shoulder and followed after. Kili looked at him again; something was on his mind, and it was hard to pinpoint. That did not take long to accomplish, the dwarf never held his tongue for long.

"So, how do you think the meeting is going?"

Of' course that would be it. Some of the older dwarves currently gathered to discuss the raising frequency of Orc sightings and attacks. Ori disliked the thought and was happy to let the adults deal with the problem. Clearly, Kili was not content with that.

"Fili said he is trying to go, right?"

"He's trying, yes, but that won't be any good until they're done." Kili looked more annoyed that he couldn't spend the time with his brother on top of not being invited. "He said I should keep out of trouble until he was out, for some reason."

Ori decided not to laugh at the statement. Kili appeared antsy enough where he would be offended if he did.

Kili made a quick stop to grab his bow and arrows. He came back rather quickly, as no one else was home to stop him. His quiver held about half a dozen arrows. In his hand he held the small bow. The encouraging grin did nothing to enlighten Ori's spirits. He did not want to get in trouble today.

"Are you sure we should go outside?"

"It will be fine. There's still plenty of daylight and nobody will know we've been gone long. I haven't been able to go out to the woods in forever. Plus, everyone needs to go out at least in pairs, nowadays. That means I'm actually following the rules by taking you out with me." Kili gave a small shrug before dragging the smaller dwarf by the arm. "It will be fun! You still have your journal on you so you can sketch that silly tree you were admiring while I go hunting."

Ori failed to get a word in. That did not sound dreadful or particularly dangerous. Plus, it would be a safer bet to go with his friend to make sure Kili did not do anything stupid.

The two passed Bofur on the way to the gate. The toymaker waved, which Kili returned gladly.

"How's it coming?"

The older dwarf gave a knowing grin. "You would like to know, wouldn't you?"

Kili scowled and proceeded to drag Ori off yet again. "We're going out to the forest. So if you see Fili, tell him before he searches all over again." He called over his shoulder. He sighed and spoke quietly to Ori, "We won't get any information from him."

"Alright, if you catch anything good Bombur will cook it and give part of the meal in return." The news cheered up Kili greatly. It was Thorin's turn to cook tonight, and he was horrible at anything to do with cooking. That was in his nephew's honest opinion.

The rest of the way the young pair hardly ran into anyone else. The time of day where most remained busy in the deeper mines, or else worked in whatever shop or business they had. Then there was meeting 35% of the adult population was in. Kili wanted to show he could deal with any major problem, too, just not right now. The late lunch rush would befall upon soon, and they- mostly Kili- wanted to get out prior to the rush.

They did, however, run into one more individual on the way. The archer beamed and ran up to climb a rock overhang. He peered down to the small dwarf who had already noticed him.

"Hey Gimli, we were about to head out to the forest for a bit. Do you want to come with us?"

The redheaded dwarf looked up with a partly amused expression. "Why would I want to go to the forest?"

"Because we're your friends and want your company?" Kili hugged the rock overhang and put on his puppy dog face. Unlike Ori, Gimli wasn't quick enough to look away and scowled as he felt his will give.

"He's upset that his whole family is in the meeting on the Orc problem, and he's stuck with nothing to do." Ori offered when he caught up.

"Well, so am I. At least we agree on that." The other dwarf gave a half grin and stood up.

"You're hardly old enough to go!"

"Neither are you."

"Fili is five years older than me and he gets to!"

"You don't even know if he got in." Ori gazed up at Kili and restrained a smile.

"Urh," The dark-haired dwarf buried his face in his hands when both turned against him. "Anyway, Gimli, do you want to go?"

The dwarf shook his head at the antics, not knowing why he bothered sometimes. After a few moments, the youngest dwarf consented. Kili gave a victorious smirk before jumping down from his perch.

"Great, let's go!"

After that the only challenge was getting past the two guards at the interest. Five minutes are speaking was all it took to get out. All the heirs of Durin had something to pertain to get people to listen. For Kili, it was his youthful tactics and energy that got the three of them through. "Thank you!" He yelled back to the guards.

The archer twirled his arrows absently once the three got under the trees. He stopped his endless chatter, and they went silent through the trees. The three stumbled over a dozen roots on the way to their destination. Kili blamed the noise on scaring away potential animals/targets; Gimli blamed the tree roots over his small height, and Ori kept quiet and steady.

Finally, they reached a small clearing. The tree Ori was interested in was on the far side from where they were currently standing. It was a huge oak, well weathered, and mostly bare in the autumn light. Kili spun around in a circle and waved to his friends. "I'm off. I want to catch a large rabbit to save myself from Uncle's cooking tonight. I'll keep close by though." Before either of the other two could say anything, Kili jumped over a few roots and disappeared into the trees.

"Why did he invite us along again?" Ori asked Gimli. He got no reply because there was no logical answer to that. The artist walked to nearby roots and planted his pack down. He then cleared a few leaves and sat down. He had a feeling he should probably follow Kili in case the hyper dwarf got in trouble. Plus, the archer was the only one who had a weapon on him if anything happened. Ori kept his slingshot in his bag, but had no stones with him, nor did he see any in the clearing right now. He brushed the nervousness aside. Nori said he thought his younger brother had excellent judgment, but Ori always let his nerves cloud it.

"Why are you sketching a tree?" Gimli's voice cut into his thoughts. He sounded bemused more than anything else.

"I sketched all the caverns and caves already, twice. I want to draw some of the miner's in the mines but I'm not old enough yet to go down that far. And I will be in the way." He scratched a few marks on the page without looking up. The younger dwarf shrugged and decided to pass the time away with idly playing with large sticks. Gloin still didn't lend any of his axes yet, without supervision. The weight now in his hands was completely off, but he learned some stance with it.

The sun was about to decide to go down when Kili came back. He only had a small squirrel and looked pale yet managed to smile back at them.

"I… I think we should probably head back now. I don't want to be stuck in my room forever and a day if I don't come back on time." The two prodded him on the way to see what was wrong. The only answer they got was a small shake of his head. "Nothing's wrong. Honestly. I'm just tired all of a sudden." By the time they were half way back Kili had his high energy levels back. A faint layer of anxiety remained on his face; nonetheless, he joked around the easiest once they were a certain distance away.

"So, my first drink earlier with that hangover…" "The whole time we just…" "You _don't_ have more beard than me, Gimli!"

There was a switch between the guards while they were gone because two different stood at the entryway and gave the young dwarves quizzical looks.

"We aren't going back out again," the three dwarves assured hastily. Kili sighed and looked away quickly. It appeared like he was about to say something but held back.

They made it back to the main pathway fairly quickly. Ori started to get nervous that he failed to tell anybody he was going out. A lecture from his family was not something he sought. The only person who would probably excuse him was Nori and thinking about it, he doubted his brother would be there to back him up. Gimli was less concerned, since he had another hour until he said he was going to be home. As long as he went with company, nobody will blame him from going outside.

"Fee!" Kili let out an excited laugh once he saw his brother and jumped in his arms. Fili just managed to steady both of them before falling to the ground. The blonde dwarf laughed in turn and stepped back once he was sure Kili won't topple over.

"I was about to go and wait for you to make sure you came back in time." Kili gave a light push at those words, but his eyes were light.

"So how did it go?" He tried to stop the eagerness in his voice.

"They kicked me out after ten minutes…" Fili raised his hand to stop his younger brother going on a rant, which was useless.

"What? Then you could have come out with me. Why?" Kili pouted, yet the look was mostly immune to him by now. He decided not to tell Kili that half the reason he was booted was because everyone there knew he would either willingly tell what was going on, or his brother will weed it out of them.

"I went back home but you already left. You didn't wait."

"Well, that's ok. We will find something out later." Fili failed to see the facial expression on his face for Kili had launched into another hug. He felt the other dwarf relax, though and he smiled. He pet the brown locks and looked over at Ori.

"Dori said that if you're back in fifteen minutes, he won't get angry. That was five minutes ago." The artist gave a small nod and bid farewell.

"That wasn't so bad Gimli. We should probably find the proper path, though, for next time." The dwarf shook his head at Kili's words.

"I say I get to choose the destination next time. That way roots won't be a problem." Gimli bowed his head to the two brothers and headed in the opposite direction as Ori.

Fili pulled away slightly, though kept a comforting arm over Kili's shoulders. "What's wrong? You were tense for a moment there."

"Nothing!" Then after a second he spoke again, "Later." Fili rolled his eyes and led Kili back home.

"Fine, but I will remember you said you will tell. Now, we have to get back before either of us gets scolded out."

"No!" Kili stopped and held the dead squirrel to his chest. "I don't want to deal with Uncle's cooking." He shook his head, messy brown hair falling in his face. Fili sniggered and pulled Kili along after him.

"You know he's gotten better. It has been almost ten years since anyone got sick from his food."

"Uh huh, he doesn't deserve this squirrel but I guess I don't have time to deliver it to Bombur." Kili sighed.

By the time the two arrived home, everything was in order. Either Thorin had not started cooking yet or he really was better. The former proved to be true as the dwarf prince stood, with a small smile, in the entryway. Dis stood next to her brother and eyed Kili to make sure he wasn't hiding any injuries from his outing. After she confirmed her youngest was fine, she gave a brief nod and motioned them into the room.

"Come along now, my dear brother promised to relieve me of making the meal tonight." The smirk on her face showed she was teasing him. Only Dwalin or Balin could successfully also tease Thorin, and Fili and Kili too, on occasion- if they didn't push it.

Kili balked and hid his grin behind his hand. Thorin glared at him. The two brothers restrained their laughter, and Kili handed his squirrel over. They then made their way to their room.

Fili lay on his bed while a yawn escaped his lips. "You need to learn to keep a straight face. They will be able to tell we are planning something."

Kili growled and threw his pillow at his brother's face. The blonde dwarf caught it easily and put it under his own head. Kili fell back on his bed with a frown. He will get the pillow back later.

"I didn't do anything! And what do you know? You didn't say you wanted to plan anything… about anything." Kili placed his hands below his head for makeshift cushioning.

"I did not say anything. I know you are thinking of it, though. Like I said, you're way too easy to read that way." Fili tossed back the pillow, successfully hitting the side of Kili's head. "And someone has to fully think through everything. Not your strong point, brother."

Kili wisely did not start the argument on that right now. Instead he rolled over so he was facing away from the other dwarf. "Maybe you could actually have found out some information today. But that's fine. I have a gut feeling to go off of. Wake me up when Uncle is done with supper, or not."

* * *

**A/N:** Nothing much to say here. I think I had too much fun on mentioning Thorin as a horrible cook. I don't know when I will get the next update. I need to focus on my other story and school. This will, eventually, get done. It is not going to be terribly long.


End file.
